The EEA welcomes the publication today of UNEP's report 'Pathways to a green economy'. It represents a valuable contribution to the current debate on moving the world to a sustainable path in the 21st century.

The bar graphic compares current (2005) and projected (2015 and 2030) chemicals production for 3 world regions in USD. The map precise the regions considered: OECD countries (darker blue), BRIICS countries (red), and rest of the world (pale blue).

Tipping elements are regional-scale features of the climate that could exhibit threshold-type behaviour in response to human-driven climate change – that is, a small amount of climate change at a critical point could trigger an abrupt and/or irreversible shift in the tipping element. The consequences of such shifts for societies and ecosystems are likely to be severe. Question marks indicate systems whose status as tipping elements is particularly uncertain. There are other potential tipping elements that are missing from the map, for example shallow-water coral reefs (Veron et al. 2009) threatened in part by ocean acidification

In 2010, the EEA produced its first assessment of global megatrends as part of its five-yearly assessment of the European environment’s state, trend and prospects (SOER 2010). In preparation for SOER 2015, the EEA updated each of the megatrends, providing a more detailed analysis based on the latest data. This publication is one of the 11 updates being published separately. In mid-2015 the chapters will be consolidated into a single EEA technical report.